The Pista’s V8 isn’t the sort of engine to bludgeon you with a huge tide of boost-heavy torque that suddenly explodes through the middle of the rev range. It is unlike most motors of its kind because it revs so freely and sounds so frenetic, but also because it keeps on pulling violently right the way to the 8000rpm redline, so long after so many modern turbos have begun tailing off.
And that high-range work ethic isn’t there by chance. This is an engine whose thrashing pistons are managed and motivated more cleverly than a Pep Guardiola cup final squad. That it effectively saves torque back for the higher gears while also revving so freely makes the car’s outright performance level seem to have almost no limit. That, in turn, also makes the process of pinning the car’s accelerator, and then being brave enough to keep it pinned and hold on shift by shift, a thrill ride that’s very difficult to find an equal for anywhere in motordom.
Launching from rest to 60mph on its Michelin Cup 2 R tyres in a two-way average of 2.8sec (2.77sec being the car’s quickest one-way run, almost a tenth quicker than Ferrari’s claim), the Pista would outsprint both a McLaren Senna and a 720S to 90mph. It would also leave a Lamborghini Huracán Performante trailing by several car lengths over a standing quarter mile, and then just keep gapping it.
Ultimately, though, both McLarens would haul the Ferrari back in and overtake it with enough room to run into. (The Senna’s aerodynamics eventually slow it down again above 150mph.) But the Pista needn’t look to absolute supercar class domination to make you appreciate what’s so special about its engine – because, in truth, almost everything about it is special.
